The events of this chapter appear briefly in Driven to Win; I've kind of fleshed it out a little here.

Chapter 6- "Friends" (Part 2)

Having autism meant that I've never really had the easiest time making and keeping friends. Another thing that didn't help was that there were no children that lived locally. Some of the racers in the Piston Cup with Lightning had kids, but they only came to races occasionally in order for them to stay in school. (I never had that problem because I was home-schooled; not only were my family flexible with that, but in their stores, in the serene beauty surrounding Radiator Springs, in trips to farms, zoos, aquariums and museums and in the pits, my family showed me that learning took place in the world and not some boring old classroom.)

A third thing that made making friends difficult was my trust issues. My mother was a woman who was supposed to love me, take care of me and protect me from harm. Instead, she'd just abandoned me and I didn't- and probably never would- know why. I thought Piper and Mackenzie were my friends, but they turned out to be a pair of bullies who pressured me to go along with things I didn't want to. Then they ditched me in the woods when I didn't go along with it.

Maybe other kids I talked to and tried to make friends with weren't quite as bad as that, but it still wasn't fun talking to them. Most of them knew who I was.

"You're Fudge Rossi-Topolino, the crew chief for Lightning McQueen!" they'd exclaim.

I'd often smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

It was what came next that I hated.

"I'm such a big fan..." Wait for it! "...of Lightning McQueen! What's he like? Is he really a nice guy? Do you know if he got lost in Radiator Springs legitimately or was that, like, a publicity stunt? What about when he helped The King? Was that a publicity stunt? What's his favourite food? Do you know if he likes..."

Yeah, well, you get the idea.

Some were more annoying than others. The worst incident started about a month after Mackenzie died, but first, let me back up a little bit and tell you about something that happened before Mackenzie died.

It was May and I was thirteen, going on fourteen. I had just returned home from another training session with Lightning and another argument about whether or not I should be allowed to race again. So, I wasn't in a good mood and when I heard my fathers use my name, I felt even worse.

"(When are we going to tell her?)" Guido wondered.

Tell me what?

"(When it is definite)", Luigi answered. "(I am not even sure about this myself and I know she is not going to like this, so I don't want to upset her over nothing.)"

"(I suppose that makes sense)", Guido agreed.

There was a moment of silence. They were in the living room; I went into the kitchen to get myself some juice. I could still hear them talking and I couldn't believe what I was about to hear.

"Guido?" Luigi ventured. "(Do you really think this is a good idea? Sending our daughter to boarding school?)"

"What?!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself.

There was another silence.

"Fudgie?"

"Yeah?"

"Come here."

I crept into the living room and, at Luigi's silent instruction, I sat down on the couch.

"Now", Luigi began gently, "it is not definite, but yes. We are thinking about sending you to boarding school."

What? I didn't like this. Not one bit. Radiator Springs was my home! "Why?" I wondered. "Have... have I been bad?"

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Luigi hugged me. "Why would you think that?"

"Because I've seen it in books and movies", I explained. "A kid misbehaves, so their parents send them to boarding school."

Luigi gave a soft smile. "This is not like that, Fudgie. It is just... you are about to turn fourteen. That is when you would be starting high school. We just want you to have the best opportunities for the most important years of your schooling."

"(And we think it is a good idea for you to make some new friends)", Guido added, taking my hand. "(We know you don't have many friends and we think that could change if you got to spend more time with children your age.)"

"But I don't wanna go to boarding school!" I felt tears come to my eyes. "I wanna stay here!"

"Please don't get upset!" Luigi begged. "We are just thinking about it. We don't know for sure. This is why we were not planning on telling you now."

All I could do was nod my head.

For the next couple of months, I brought up every argument I could think of to make sure my fathers knew boarding school was not an option. We could be casually having dinner at Flo's or setting up a tyre display. Then I would turn to them and drop it in, what I was hoping was casually.

"You know? I've been thinking. I'm not sure if I should go to boarding school." Then I'd bring up my reason why.

"I'm still recovering from my accident. I don't think it's the right time for me to go off and live at school."

"It's gonna be too big of a change. I've never been to school a day in my life and now, I'm gonna live there?"

"I've made a commitment to Lightning. I need to be his crew chief. How can I do that while I'm away?"

"Aren't you gonna miss me?"

I'm pretty sure they were annoyed at me for bringing it up constantly. Even so, they genuinely listened to what I had to say. About two weeks after Mackenzie's funeral, when, if I were going, I'd have to start getting ready for school, Luigi and Guido sat me down on the couch yet again.

"Fudgie", Luigi began gently. "We have been thinking. We have thought about the reasons we wanted to send you to boarding school and the reasons you do not want to go."

"Yeah?" I wasn't sure where this was going.

"We understand why you do not want to go and..." I thought my heart was going to fly right out of my chest. "That is why we have decided not to send you."

"Yes!" I cheered excitedly. I leaned forward and hugged them. "Thank you!"

They hugged me back and smiled softly.

"There is one condition, though", Luigi informed me.

"What?" I asked. "Anything."

Luigi handed me a sheet of paper. I looked at it and I could see that it was advertising a youth program in the nearest city, Velo City (AN: Get it?). The idea was kids my age could get help with homework and then do some fun activities such as sports (I'm not a huge fan of sports, except for racing, but you know what I mean) and receive self-care workshops. It actually looked pretty good. It definitely sounded a lot better than boarding school.

"We do want you to have professional help with your schoolwork and the opportunity to make new friends", Luigi explained. "So, we think this is a good compromise."

I nodded in agreement. "Definitely."

Luigi beamed. "You were right. We would miss you if you went to boarding school."

I beamed too.

The next Tuesday, I had my first session at the youth group. I was nervous because I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't know where to go or who I was looking for either. Luckily, the receptionist was able to direct me in the right place and I was met by a red Volkswagen Golf and a white Beetle.

"Hi, Fudge. I'm Katie and this is Rachel." The Volkswagen smiled at me. Then she glanced around the room where everyone was at desks with pens and paper in front of them, but were more engaged in conversation. "Everyone's working on their homework right now... Do you have any homework?"

"Yep." I held up my copy of Romeo and Juliet, which my family had assigned for me.

"Oh, good. Why don't you take a seat and call us if you need any help."

I nodded gratefully. "Thanks."

All the other kids seemed to know each other pretty well (I'm guessing most of them go to school together) and were talking loudly. I didn't feel like sitting with them because I was afraid they'd tell me they didn't want me there. So, I took a seat at an empty table and got to work.

Or, at least, I tried to get to work.

"Hey!" a blue Toyota Corolla exclaimed, noticing me. "You're Fudge Rossi-Topolino, aren't you?"

Everyone looked my way.

"Uh... yeah", I answered. I always wonder if anybody ever recognises me if either I don't wear my 95 T-shirt or I'm not with Lightning. Now, I know that they do.

Immediately, I was surrounded by kids.

"Do you really know Lightning McQueen?" a brown-haired human boy asked me.

"Yeah, or do you just hang out with him on race day?" a pale pink forklift wearing glasses added.

"Idiot!" a purple Mini Cooper reprimanded her. "She lives in Radiator Springs, don't you?" She directed the last question at me.

I nodded, too embarrassed to find my voice.

"That's so cool!"

"I'm such a big fan of Lightning McQueen!"

"What's Lightning like?!"

"How fast can he go?!"

So, it began. I answered all of their questions as best as I could. I couldn't help feeling a little hurt that nobody wanted to talk about me, but I guess it was nothing new. Who could possibly care about some shy, weird fourteen-year-old girl when they could talk about a five-time Piston Cup champion? So, I was grateful when Rachel intervened.

"Okay, guys. Fudge has homework to do and so do all of you. Back to work."

Reluctantly, the kids returned to their seats and resumed working. Thank God for that! Now, I could try to get through Romeo and Juliet in peace.

However, a little while later, a sleek black Porsche and a tall blonde human girl who wore a really short skirt and a ton of makeup showed up.

"Sorry we're late", they chorused, not sounding sorry at all or thrilled to be there.

"Zara, Layla, we're glad you could come!" Katie greeted them. "We've still got about half an hour of working on homework before we were going to start a game to get to know each other."

"But we all know each other from school", the Porsche deadpanned.

"Not all of us", Katie pointed out. "We have a new girl here this year."

The Porsche and human looked my way and immediately started walking and whispering, still fixing their eyes on me. I felt very self-conscious. Why did they keep staring at me? I noticed they seemed unimpressed with everything and everyone in the room. Was it good or bad that they were staring at me like that? Oh, no! Here they come! Were they gonna make fun of my hair or my clothes? They looked like the type of people who would do that.

"You're Fudge Rossi-Topolino, aren't you?" the Porsche asked me.

So, that was it! They just wanted to hear all about Lightning McQueen like everyone else.

"Yeah..."

"We've, like, seen you on TV!" the human declared excitedly. "You're, like, so cool!"

Already, I was smiling and starting to blush, even though I was sure they meant Lightning was cool. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

"You don't mean Lightning McQueen's cool?" I asked, making sure I heard them right.

"Well, yeah, he's hot", the human admitted. "But you're so cool too!"

"Thanks!"

"I'm Zara. Zara Horsepower", the Porsche informed me.

"And I'm Layla Johnstone", the human added.

"Nice to meet you." And I meant it.

I talked to Zara and Layla and it turns out we didn't have a lot in common, but that was okay. We didn't have to in order to be friends. They liked Lightning McQueen and it's no secret I do. That was about the only thing we had in common. They were into things like Twilight and The Hunger Games and the hot actors in those franchises, which did not hold my interest. Still, they seemed perfectly nice and I liked spending time with them. The other interesting thing was the other kids at the youth group told me they were the most popular girls at their school. However, they hardly ever talked to anybody except for each other. They said I was "worthy". I wondered what that meant. Well, I thought I knew, but I wanted to be wrong.

"See ya, Fudge!" they called to me at the end of another session of the youth group. They were about to head home together while I waited for Sarge to pick me up (my family took it in turns to do that).

"Hey!" I called after them. "Are you guys doing anything on Saturday?"

"I don't think so... Why?" Zara responded.

"My family wanna meet you", I explained. I'd been invited over to Layla's house the following week and I wasn't allowed to go until my family had met Zara and Layla, which I could understand. "Do you wanna come to Radiator Springs?"

They looked at each other and squealed excitedly before composing themselves and facing me again.

"Sure", Layla replied casually.

"Great! I-" I began.

"We gotta go", Zara interrupted me.

I shrugged. "Well, we can make plans on Thursday."

"Yeah, sure. See ya." They made a quick escape.

Sure enough, on Saturday, they came to visit me in Radiator Springs.

"Ah!" Luigi exclaimed when he saw them. "You must be Zara and Layla! It is so nice to meet you both!" He offered his tyre to shake, which the girls did, even though they made faces the whole time.

I didn't understand. Didn't they like Luigi? If not, then there was gonna be a problem.

It turns out I was absolutely right. Not only did Zara and Layla not like Luigi or anybody else in Radiator Springs, but my family didn't exactly look pleased with them either. I felt like there could be a couple of reasons for that. Maybe it was the fact that when they talked (more to each other than to me), they kept using profanities. Maybe it was how they behaved when Lightning showed up.

"Hey, guys!" the racer had greeted us all when he pulled up at Flo's.

"Ahhh!" Zara and Layla squealed, abandoning me and charging forward towards Lightning. "Lightning McQueen! It's really you!"

"Yeah." He managed a smile. "It's really me. So, you must be Zara and Layla. Fudge has told me so much about you guys."

That got them screeching like pterodactyls even more. They had completely forgotten about me by then. That should've been my first alarm bell, but it was not.

Or maybe it was because they stood up at one point and announced:

"We're just going for a smoke. Fudge, you coming?"

I shook my head. "No thanks."

"Come on!" Layla held out a cigarette in my direction. "Just try one."

"No!" I answered a little more forcefully, standing up. Zara and Layla smoked a lot. First of all, what kind of fourteen-year-old smoked cigarettes? Second of all, I really didn't like how they were pressuring me to smoke too. I didn't want to; I can't even stand to be around someone who's smoking a cigarette. (That should've been my second alarm bell, but it was not.) "I... I have to go to the bathroom."

So, I went. I could hear my family talking as I sat in there.

"I do not like these girls at all!" Luigi insisted.

"Me neither", everyone else chimed in.

Well, that didn't surprise me.

"I did not like how they were pressuring my daughter to smoke", my father continued. "I know she does not want to, but they are very strong and I am afraid my Fudgie will give into them."

"And did you hear how much they were swearing?" Ramone put in. "I don't think I've ever heard the words f**k or s**t so much in my life."

"They do seem like a bad influence", Sarge remarked. "Fudge is a very nice girl and I don't think any of us want her ending up like that."

"Absolutely not", everyone agreed.

"They don't even seem to really care about Fudge either", Flo added.

"No they don't, do they?" Luigi mused.

"What are we gonna do?" Lightning wondered, sighing.

"I don't think there's really anything we can do", Sally pointed out. "Fudge is fourteen. She's old enough to choose her own friends."

Luigi sighed. "I suppose you are right. I just hope she is careful."

Were they right? Did Zara and Layla not really care about me? Was that alarm bell number three? The answer to that last question was no!

I kept hanging out with them. It was hard to agree on where we would hang out because they would always want to come to Radiator Springs, but my family couldn't bear more than two hours in one week. Sometimes, I would go over to their apartments, which I was doing at one-thirty on a Wednesday afternoon.

"Hey, shouldn't you guys be at school?" I wondered. Like I said, I've never been to school a day in my life, but I did know that one-thirty on a Wednesday afternoon was school time.

"It's a day off", Layla explained quickly. She was scrolling through her phone on the couch in her dad's apartment. (Layla's parents were divorced. She and her brother stayed with their dad from Sunday nights till Wednesday mornings and with their mother from Wednesday after school to Sunday night.) "You know, for teachers' meetings and stuff like that."

"Oh." Well, that made sense. I had read in books that sometimes kids get days off for teachers' meetings.

"So, are you coming to Max's party Friday night?" Layla quizzed me. Max was her older brother. "It's gonna be so much fun! There are gonna be college boys there! Maybe you'll end up with a boyfriend!"

"Yeah. Maybe", I muttered.

"And his best friend's older brother's getting alcohol for us!" Zara added. She eyed me critically. "Maybe me and Layla could do your makeup for this party."

"Yeah. Maybe", I repeated. I didn't want to go to this party. I didn't want a boyfriend. I didn't want alcohol. I didn't want makeup. Sometimes, I wasn't sure if I even wanted Zara and Layla as friends. Sometimes- well, a lot of the time- they were just too pushy and tried to pressure me into doing things I didn't want to. If it wasn't smoking, it was drinking; if it wasn't drinking, it was wearing makeup.

"In fact..." Layla was also gazing at me thoughtfully. "You should really get your ears pierced."

I shook my head. "I don't want to get my ears pierced." Not only that, but I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed. I didn't know what Guido and Luigi would think if I got my ears pierced because I'd never asked.

"Yeah, come on!" Layla tossed me my jacket and practically shoved me out the door. "We could do it right now. I wanted to get my nose pierced today anyways. Let's go."

"But I-"

My protests were ignored as I was tossed onto Zara's roof and we headed towards the boutique.

Should I do this? I wondered. At that moment, I realised we'd left so fast I didn't have my phone on me. I couldn't ask Luigi for permission.

"Why do you need to ask?" Layla wondered. "He'll love it when he sees it."

"Yeah, his little girl's growing up", Zara added.

I wasn't so sure.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to get my ears pierced either. Then again, I kept saying no to drinking and smoking with them. Getting my ears pierced wasn't so terrible, was it? No. I mean, sure, I didn't want to, but I could always remove the earrings and never put any back in. Couldn't I?

I didn't have time to question myself any further. We'd arrived at the boutique.

"How can I help you?" a young woman with bright red dye in her hair and a name tag that read April asked us.

"Yeah. She wants to get her ears pierced", Layla answered, pointing to me. "And I wanna get my nose pierced."

So, they got me to sit in the seat and prepared my ears, but I could hardly focus on what they were doing. They asked me to choose some earrings, but I just mumbled whatever. I couldn't think about picking earrings. I only had three thoughts going through my mind. Do I really want to do this? Luigi's not going to be happy about this. This is going to hurt, isn't it? The answer to my first question was no. I didn't want to do this.

"You ready, Fudge?" April quizzed me as she and her assistant, a black-haired woman named Amelia, got ready to punch holes into my ears.

"I don't know..." I answered.

"Oh, don't worry, honey", Amelia piped up. "It only hurts for a second. Everyone gets nervous, but it's gonna be fine."

I was about to tell them that wasn't what my concern had been (well, it wasn't my only concern, anyway), but before I could, I heard April's voice. "Ready? One... two... three!"

I squeezed my eyes shut as they punched holes into my ears. It hurt, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

"Have a look!" April instructed me.

I opened my eyes and peered in the mirror. I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't look half bad. They were little sparkly gold studs in my ears. It wasn't awful, but I still wasn't happy that I'd done this. I still couldn't quite believe I'd gotten through with it.

"You look beautiful!" Zara smiled at me encouragingly. Maybe a little too encouragingly. She sounded like she was congratulating a kindergartner on writing their name.

"Yeah, you look great!" Layla added in an identical tone.

"Really?"

"Really. Yeah, you're gonna look great at Lightning's Phoenix race this weekend!" Zara insisted.

"You got us pit passes, right?" Layla quizzed me.

"Yeah", I answered. That was another thing Layla and Zara often did; be super nice to me before making sure I did what they wanted me to do. Normally, that was to hook them up with pit passes to races, so they could get up close and personal with the racers. Looking back, it's hard to believe how many red flags I didn't see. Well, maybe it wasn't so much that I didn't see them, but more that I chose to ignore them. I just didn't want to believe they only liked me because I knew Lightning McQueen.

April and Amelia explained to me everything I had to do to look after my ears to prevent infection. It was news to me that I would have to keep my earrings in for six weeks.

"Six weeks?" I repeated incredulously. I'd been hoping I could take my earrings out as soon as I got home and my parents wouldn't have to know a thing. There was no way I could hide this from them for six whole weeks.

"Don't worry", Amelia repeated. "Those six weeks will go by quickly and then you can get nicer earrings."

All I could worry about was Luigi finding out. While we were in the mall, I stopped by the electronics shop to get headphones and then I went to a cheap store and got a winter hat, which especially helped because it was January by that point. I figured the hat and the headphones would buy me a couple of days.

"Ciao, Fudgie!" Luigi greeted me when I returned home later that day. "Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah..." I answered uncertainly, sliding my headphones down, making sure they were still covering my earlobes.

"Are you sure? You sound nervous..." Luigi reached out to stroke my hair, but my headphones tumbled to the ground. So much for buying me time.

I was stood there, frozen in shock. So was Luigi as he caught sight of two glints of gold in my earlobes.

"Fudge", he began, sounding disappointed and kind of hurt. "You got your ears pierced?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Why would you do this without telling me?" he demanded, his voice becoming stern.

"I..."

"You should know to ask me before doing something like this!" Luigi went on before I could answer. "I would have said yes." There was a moment of silence before Luigi gasped. "Zara and Layla made you do this, didn't they?"

I nodded again. "Yeah..." I repeated quietly. Not only was that the truth, but maybe it would take some of the heat off of me.

Without a word, Luigi gestured for me to go inside.

My father waited until I was sat down on my bed before he let me have it.

"How could you do something like this, Fudge? You did not want to get your ears pierced, but you let these girls talk you into it. Why did you not stand up for yourself?"

"I said no to drinking and smoking!" I reminded him, getting kind of frustrated. "I didn't think getting my ears pierced would be so... terrible."

"It is terrible, Fudge!" Luigi insisted. "If you keep giving them the power, you will start drinking and smoking!"

"No I won't!" I protested. "I would never drink or smoke!"

"Well, this morning, you would have said you would not get your ears pierced, but you have done that!" Luigi shot back angrily.

"Why don't you trust me?!" I shouted. I didn't want to admit that he was right.

"Because you have made some friends, who I am not sure are real friends", Luigi pointed out.

"I'm not a baby!" I reminded him.

"Well, I am your father!" Luigi was raising his voice. "It is my job to look after you and you can't seem to make adult decisions! Look what you have done today!"

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done it, but-"

"But nothing!" Luigi interrupted me. "You should not have done it and that is the end of it." He eyed me suspiciously. "Why have you not taken your earrings out yet?"

"I can't", I explained. "I have to keep them in for six weeks, so my ears don't get infected."

"Six weeks?!" Luigi repeated, just as incredulous as I had been.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Luigi set his lips in a thin line. "Well, then six weeks is how long you are grounded for."

I leapt to my feet. "That's not fair!" I cried.

"You do not get to tell me what is fair and what is not!" Luigi informed me firmly. "I want to make sure you will never make this kind of decision without asking or do something you do not want to do just to fit in again!"

"I won't!" I insisted. "I won't!"

"I don't know if I can believe you. Not until you realise Zara and Layla are not your friends."

"They are!" I insisted. "So, just leave me alone! I don't need you to tell me who my friends are or get on me about everything!"

Luigi gave me an angry glare, but then he stormed out of my room without a word.

I was angry too.. I was angry at Zara and Layla for talking me into this. I was angry at Luigi for meddling. I was angry at myself for going through with it. Maybe Luigi was right. I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for my so-called friends.

"Bedtime, Jen", I whispered, plonking my cat on one of the pillows.

That, I told myself, climbing into bed, is the last time I listen to Zara and Layla.

More on the way soon! So, stay tuned! Please review!